Sell FRACTAL at Sweetwater.

I think a better solution is for Fractal to have dealers at small local stores instead of Sweetwater or Musicians Friend. The locally owned guitar store is almost dead due to these big corporations and could definitely use a revitalization. I remember when you could build a relationship with your local guitar store owner and he would beat any price at Guitar Center, Sam Ash, or any of the big stores because he wanted to keep your business. How times have changed.
 
MKB99 said:
FWIW, if I had been able to try out a Fractal AxeFX back in 2014 when I was in the market for a high end modeler, I would have probably gone with that. I initially wanted a Fractal unit. But the only Fractal products I have ever seen in person was two on a stage a few years ago, and my FM3 (purchased a few months ago). What sold me back then on a Kemper was going to a concert where the guitarist used one, and we talked at length about it after the concert. Some of his tones were staggeringly good with the Kemper as well. I was able to purchase a Kemper through distribution and felt comfortable with the price and return policy, so I went with that.

In my case in 2014 the rarity and lack of in person examples of the tones, plus not knowing any owners, sent me to Kemper in place of Fractal. Not that this justifies Fractal going through distribution, but I just wanted to point out I would have probably gone with Fractal if I could have had these factors back then. I know that Fractal has a return policy, but not being able to hear one live and talk to a user made me reluctant to spend the money that way.
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But how does it being sold at Sweetwater give more 'in person' examples?
 
Sweetwater is a nice company to deal with… at the moment. What if they get bought out by a bigger company that upends their way of conducting business?
 
Fractal doesn’t need stores that add cost. Just look at the waitlist for the FM9. I don’t have an opinion on Sweetwater being good or bad but the online sales outfits are killing off the local shops. This is a stupid thread.
 
lqdsnddist said:
Sweetwater was sold to a private equity fund last year FYI. Still a good business and likely not much different in terms of day to day operations, but the original ownership sold so not quite the privately owned small time pop and mom shop
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If this is true then sooner or later Sweetwater will be stripped, pillaged and looted and ruined as that is what private equity funds do. They are vampires looking for blood donors.
 
private equity is misunderstood as always bad.
it can be very good, very bad or "meh".
like most things run by humans, it comes down to which humans are running it.
 
Concerning Fractal at Sweetwater, there is one possible benefit for buyers wanting to get into modeling, but have no idea where to start. As an example, the rep that has called me for years at Sweetwater finally proved his worth one day when I needed some direction in selecting a ton of wireless mics for a church stage. I got the impression he was somewhat knowledgeable on the subject, I took his advice, and was very pleased with the experience and equipment. So IME the Sweetwater rep knew his stuff to a certain degree, FAR more than any GC I've visited.

Sweetwater wants to sell you gear they carry. If you call and get a knowledgeable rep, their motivation is to sell you something they carry and make you a happy customer. If they give you bad advice it might reflect badly on them (assumed from all the efforts and money they put into customer relations). In the world of modelers, each one has its outstanding benefits and drawbacks as compared to each other. You could study all sorts of sources on the internet to make your choice, but the majority of those are heavily biased. How do you weed through those if you know nothing on the subject?

IMHO and to my knowledge, if you are entering the modeling world cold and without experience, one of the best bets is to buy from Sweetwater if you can get one of their good reps (maybe I got lucky). They want you to buy one of their products, and be a happy repeat customer, so their motivation is to get you the right choice from the units they carry. It is far less likely that their advice would include Fractal if they do not carry Fractal.

I do not work for Sweetwater, and actually do little business with them, but I do go back to them if I need help making a choice, and give them the business if I feel they earned it. That mic purchase I mentioned earlier was around $6k, so they certainly earned that. The next time I will need to make a large purchase that I need help with selection, I will go straight to Sweetwater. My Sweetwater rep's name is Ed Needler (thans Ed for your patience!).
 
lqdsnddist said:
Sweetwater was sold to a private equity fund last year FYI. Still a good business and likely not much different in terms of day to day operations, but the original ownership sold so not quite the privately owned small time pop and mom shop
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This explains SO much. I refuse to buy from them now due to the way they treated and cheated me over the last year or so, with zero cares given by the owner/CEO.

This is such a far cry from when I first started buying from them. I bought an EBMM JP13-7 and my sales guy OVERNIGHTED it to Hawaii for FREE. Fast forward 9 years or so and they forget the candy, ship to the wrong address multiple times in a row, refuse ANY discount, respond rudely and accusatorily via email... No thanks. I'll only ever buy from them again if I have no other option. Their service has steadily declined in quality over the years, but the sale mentioned probably changed the whole culture there permanently.

So yeah, while I'd love to see Fractal be successful enough to have stock at retail stores, I'm perfectly content with Sweetwater not getting their customers' business.
 
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